Publications & Presentations

Creative Testing Solutions continues to prove its commitment to advancing transfusion safety through active participation in global scientific forums. This summer, our Vice President of Scientific Affairs Dr. Marion Lanteri represented CTS as both a presenter and participant at two major international conferences: the IPFA/PEI 31st International Workshop in Heidelberg, Germany, and the ISBT 2025 Congress in Milan, Italy.

At the IPFA meeting (an association supported by CTS), global experts engaged in protecting the blood and plasma supply from infectious agents and emerging threats such as zoonotic viruses like rat hepatitis E and avian influenza H5N1, and the resurgence of parvovirus B19. The participants emphasized the importance of advanced surveillance tools such as multiplexed blood screening assays for both molecular and serologic surveillance and future innovative platforms in combination with artificial intelligence for data analytics. They also reinforced the role of blood donors as a sentinel population for public health monitoring. Discussions also explored the ethical dimensions of blood safety and the evolving role of pathogen reduction technologies.

Dr. Lanteri’s key takeaways from the IFPA meeting were:

1. U.S. plasma collections will keep increasing over the coming years as demand for plasma derived medicinal products will keep increasing in the U.S. and globally. U.S. plasma collections are important to meet the demand.
2. Blood and source plasma safety remains a key focus for all organizations.
3. Keeping high availability for blood and plasma is critical. The team explored ways to increase the donor base and relax deferrals by using additional, sometimes multiplexed, screening assays and pathogen reduction. The solutions must maintain safety and balance costs to increase blood availability.
4. Preparedness for emerging infectious diseases and response is of high interest, and Dr. Lanteri promoted the use of blood and source plasma donors to perform surveillance studies and prepare for response.

At ISBT, CTS contributed to seven scientific abstracts (three oral presentations and four posters) reporting key contributions to blood safety research. Dr. Lanteri teamed up with Canadian colleagues to present findings on the rising reactive rates of parvovirus B19 in blood and plasma donor populations across North America.

CTS also co-authored studies on improved HIV-1 detection using whole blood in addition to plasma. Findings from a CDC-funded, blood-donor-based serosurveillance program study highlighted the value of longitudinal blood donor cohorts in tracking SARS-CoV-2 infection, reinfection and vaccination events in an evolving SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to inform public health policies. These findings support expanding this serosurveillance program to other respiratory viruses over the coming year.

Through these interactions, CTS contributes and promotes research that helps maintain blood safety and inform public health policies while fostering global collaboration and communication. It’s yet another way that CTS can promote and support a safe and reliable blood and source plasma supply for patients around the world.

At ISBT 2025, CTS contributed 7 abstracts (3 orals and 4 posters) and was acknowledged by many collaborators.

CTS Led Oral PA28-L03 – “North American trends in parvovirus B19 plasma reactive rates in 2024 and beyond” was presented on Tuesday, June 3 by Lanteri et al. as part of the session on Safety, inclusivity, and risk assessment. Dr. Lanteri teamed up with Canadian Blood Services, HemaQuebec, and Grifols and reported the increase in B19 reactive rates over in late 2024 and through the first half of 2025 in both the U.S. and Canadian blood and plasma donor population.

Co-Authored Oral PA19-L03 – “Improved HIV-1 RNA detection using whole blood (WB) versus plasma in antiretroviral-treated individuals” by Avelino-Silva et al. investigated HIV-1 detectability in paired WB and plasma specimens from HIV-1 positive individuals, using commercially available, high throughput HIV-1 NAT assays adapted for testing WB samples. Enhanced detectability of HIV nucleic acids in WB opens new blood donation screening pathways to maintain blood safety and improve diagnostics.

Co-Authored Oral PA25-L05 – “Evaluation of multiplexed serology assays for respiratory virus serosurveillance in blood donors” by Sulaeman et al. reported the evaluation of five highly multiplexed, quantitative respiratory virus (RV) antibody (Ab) platforms for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection, reinfection, and vaccination events in a blinded panel study.

CTS Led Poster P213 – “Ascertainment of SARS-CoV-2 infections and reinfections and characterization of anti-spike and nucleocapsid antibody levels over multiple infection events” by Lanteri et al. showed that using anti-Nucleocapsid antibody boosting can help identify SARS-CoV-2 reinfections and document re-exposure regardless of symptom outcomes and the underreporting of undiagnosed infections. The increasing anti-Nucleocapsid and anti-Spike antibody levels reflect progressive population immunity over the period of the study with continued reinfections.

Co-Authored Poster P205 – “Cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 first infections and reinfections and correlates of protection in a large U.S. blood donor cohort, 2022-2023” by Grebe et al. proved the value of repeat blood donor cohorts to inform SARS-CoV-2 infection incidence and correlates of protection critical to public health surveillance.

Co-Authored Poster P404 – “Evolution of a SARS-CoV-2 repeat blood donor serosurveillance program into a respiratory virus repeat blood donor cohort” by Stone et al. reported that capitalizing on the success of the SARS-CoV-2 Repeat Donor Cohort implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team established an expanded serosurveillance program in response to evolving public health concerns to endemic and emerging respiratory virus infections. The CDC-funded program will monitor respiratory virus infections in a nationwide blood donor-based serosurveillance study to inform public health policies in the U.S.

Co-Authored Poster P208 – “SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and variant-specific antibody titers in blood donors with prior infection, prior vaccination or hybrid immunity: correlations with protection against omicron infections” by Avelino-Silva et al. reported the correlation between anti-Spike antibody levels and odds of infection and reinfection with omicron variants, in vaccinated, infected, and hybrid immunity groups of blood donors. Immune-imprinting and protection from evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants were also discussed.

CTS was acknowledged by several collaborators including Dr. Mars Stone during the Big Data working group meeting, where the group promoted blood donor-based research for its potential to inform public health policies using the example of the Repeat Donor Cohort Program for the serosurveillance of SARS-CoV-2 which was recently expanded to include other respiratory viruses. Dr. Laura Tonnetti also acknowledged CTS during her presentation as part of the Roche Satellite Symposium and the session on Blood safety in a changing world: emerging pathogens where she presented the incremental value of testing blood donations for CMV DNA instead of CMV antibodies and the results of a study for which CTS provided samples from June 2023 to February 2025.